The Coming of the Shades
by ML88
Summary: The Turning War has recently ended, and now there is a new problem facing the Dragonrealms. Shade, who they had presumed dead, has returned to life...again, but this time it is not just him, but all the other "hims" that existed before him.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

Penacles was always known as the city of knowledge for within it housed the libraries. These libraries were no ordinary place to store books oh no. These libraries were a place where all the secrets of the Dragon Realms could be found and read, the only catch being all is written in riddles and almost every book in the library was blank until you found the _exact_ one that you were looking for. This was put in a one of the many safety precautions when the Purple Dragon had the libraries built over three centuries ago…

The Turning War ended about a week ago, this meant that all of the Dragonrealms had been in chaos for many months of late. The war resulted in thousands of deaths, men and drakes alike, and caused unbelievable destruction to some cities. The numbers of the Dragon Kings were lessened by only one; their big brother, the Purple Dragon, lost his life, along with the dragon master Nathan Bedlam in the final siege that the Gryphon's armies had on the city of knowledge. With the death of the Purple Dragon brought a new piece to the lands of Penacles that they had not seen before, but that also was at the cost of the last of the dragon masters. Dragon masters were some of the most powerful warlocks in all of the Dragonrealms, and Nathan Bedlam was the last surviving…until a week ago.

Nathan Bedlam did have a son, Azran Bedlam, who had he been on his father's side during the turning war, may have kept Nathan alive long enough to see the end of the war, and maybe help him fight back against the other 12 ruling drakes, but alas not. Azran was a heavy user of the darker side of the spectrum. He barely ever dabbles into the good Magick. Azran preferred to stay out of this fight, and even had locked himself away in a little tower in the Hell Plains, hidden from the views of everyone, even the notorious Red Dragon, and stayed there all through the war. Even though the war was over, Azran loved the little hiding place that he had sought out for himself and decided he would rather not leave.

The ending siege of the Turning War, which was fought on Penacles' land, was fought over the right to control the libraries. The Gryphon thought that if he was able to become king of Penacles then he would not only have control over the City of Knowledge, but also, it would mean that the foothold that the Dragon Kings have on the Dragonrealms was lessening. Now that the Gryphon had the City of Knowledge, he could find a way to put the libraries to work for him, and figure out a way to end this tide of Dragon Kings in the Dragonrealms.

With the end of the Turning War having come, this brought a different sense to the air of the Dragonrealms. A sense of uneasiness at the calmness in the lands, which had for months beforehand been a raging hell storm of fire and deadly gasses from the fire and air drakes, along with the copious amounts of Magick thrown into the air from those grey-haired sorcerers.

Lying on the ground, not too far from the gates into the city of knowledge, was a body. The body was clearly lifeless and dead, or at least as dead as this person could be. The hooded figure seemed to have been struck by a rather large force in the last of the Turning War, and with so many dead inside the City of Knowledge, the guards left this lifeless body alone since it was already outside the city walls. The wolves could eventually take care of it at night was their logic. Little did they know who this hooded figure was, little did they know…what was going to come to happen in the Dragonrealms quite soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

The breeze rushing through the trees in the Dagora Forest, land of the Green Dragon, put not only a nice sort of coolness into the air, but also, allowed the smell of the fresh, green coats of the pines, spruces, ashes and poplar trees to dance and allow their faint fragrance to be pushed into the air. This was a rather pleasant time, it seemed like a place where nothing could be effected by anything, and it almost seemed as if the war had never happened, had one been here the entire time.

Down below there were footfalls, rather quiet, almost none existent, but they were there if one was dead quiet. Into view came a man in a black forest cloak, walking with the skill and grace of someone who knew these lands very well, but also, was a stranger to these lands, as if he had studied maps and charts of this place, but had no practical experience. He had never actually been here before, this was indicative of the fact that he was looking to and fro all the time trying to make sure he was going in the right direction. He seemed very out of place.

The man finally chose a path to follow and begun to move quickly, his black cloak slapping against him as he moved, his eyes, if we could see them, would be darting left and right as he ran, trying to make sure that he was passing markers that he vaguely remembered. The man's face seemed kind of blurred, and rather difficult to read, but one could suspect there was a mild look of panic and fear in the so called expression on his face.

He reached a fork in the road and stopped, trying to consider where to go next, when he saw something that was familiar he chose that path. The man carried nothing on his person to slow him down, it was either as if he lived off the land, or as if he was dropped off in the middle of the forest. The wind was whipping past his ears as he ran, under his hood, a single, large, grey streak in his hair whipped around with the wind. In the Dragonrealms, having the streak of grey in the hair meant only one thing; Warlock. This individual, whoever he was, was capable of Magick, and could either be a great help to anyone and everyone he meets, or a huge pain in the side and someone who is only after their own interests.

 _How did I get here?_ The man thought to himself. _There is no way that it would put me here this time, why am I here? In the Dagora Forest?_ While he was running, these were the thoughts running through his head.

The trees were getting thicker as he kept running, and with that, the path was getting darker and darker, making it harder and harder to see the road ahead of him, it may have been only the morning, but this was just how this part of the forest was. Animals all around were scurrying about here and there, minding their own business and seeming to remain out of the warlock's way. An insignificant wyvern flew by overhead and cried out, the warlock knew this because of the sound of the wings, and also its cry.

Just as the warlock was beginning to think that there was no end to this part of the forest, the trees began to thin out a little, and some sunlight was let in. He was still unsure about whether or not he was going to make it to the end of the path, but he knew that it couldn't go on like this forever. He hated running, but if he were to use Magick and teleport himself out of the forest, he was worried that they would find him, the dragon kings had a way with being able to detect Magick being used in their kingdoms, and his type of Magick was no exception to that rule. So he kept of running ahead.

The path was beginning to twist and turn, it was also starting to get wider, as this part of the path seemed to have been more travelled. _Yes! This is it, I am on the right path._ He thought.

More and more light was coming onto the path as the trees thinned out and also as the sun rose on this Spring morning. He slowed his pace to a light jog as not to tire himself out, he realized that this was only a part of the journey, and that he had much further to go after this was done. The breeze was much cooler out here and much to his relief (for what look could be thought of as relief), as it cooled him off as was able to help him keep going. He didn't seem to tire very much, but this was helping.

He returned to his thoughts of previous. _How could it have put me this far away from where I was, one moment at…_ His thought process stopped for a minute. _I don't remember where I was, or even who I really am? This is strange, I feel as if this has happened before…I know that it has but, still._ The warlock was very confused, and slowed down to a full stop. He could recollect some vague things about before waking up in the Dagora forest only a few hours ago, but nothing much, and how ever far along those memories were, he could not say. All he knew was that waking up in this forest alone, when he felt as if something major had happened just before was strange, very strange indeed.

 _I need a name if I am to travel out in the world._ He thought. _What would be a rather unassuming name that I could use, while I try to figure out what happened to me? Shane? No, too close to what I feel is my true identity. Shawn? Nope, same issue…Simon? Yes. No one would suspect a thing, if they know me, if I choose Simon, so that is it then._

So the one named Simon, kept on slowly down the path that he was destined to take, not knowing his own impact on the world around him, not even knowing why he was where he was, or how it all occurred.


End file.
